Football: It's agony for Becks

NO player is happy sitting on the bench and when you are David Beckham it just makes it twice as bad.

He is not happy for the simple reason that he wants to be involved and to suggest anything else would be to do him a disservice.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson dropped David from the side speculation has got out of control. It's something you get used to at United but some of it is causing David unnecessary grief and forcing him and the club to go on the offensive with facts rather than what is turning into over-indulgent fiction.

It has been implied that a rift exists between David and the manager. I can understand why some people might think that but I can't accept that United are paying him back for not signing a new contract, or that David has saved his best form for England to the detriment of the club.

David admits he has not been playing at his best and he is just as frustrated by indifferent form as he is by the heavy price he's paying for it.

The fact he is the England captain is not lost on him and naturally he fears if the situation continues, his international place might come under threat.

But that won't cut any ice with Sir Alex, who firmly believes no player is too big to be dropped. In a way he is setting David a test of character in how he responds. He does it to us all at one time or another.

England's plight doesn't bother him. His only motive is to ensure success at United by picking the team he feels is best equipped to achieve it.

David is no United scapegoat, he knows that. He's merely suffering for past form and the unusually high standards that he has set himself and that the manager has come to expect from him.

Unfortunately, this season David has not been alone in fighting to find his form. As a result the manager has made changes and those players coming in have made it impossible for him to accommodate a player who is not playing to the best of his ability.

You can't have one rule for Beckham and expect the others to live by another just because he happens to be captain of England.

Players like Nicky Butt and Phil Neville have bided their time in a bid to get a sustained run in the side. So when the opportunity presented itself they grasped it with both hands. How can the manager make changes when the team revive their season by winning six successive League games?

The form of Nicky Butt is probably the biggest problem for David.

As he is all too aware, Nicky is in the team on merit and Becks has to earn the right to take it off him or another player.

If I was David I would be frustrated to the point of wanting to kick down my front door and, while the signs of frustration are evident, he's far too professional to allow himself to be distracted from setting out to regain his place in the team.

I can assure you that while David is the one suffering at the moment, the threat of the axe looms for us all. None of us has ever taken a first-team place for granted.

December was a good month for United. In that time we have been written off for the title, won six games on the bounce and been reinstalled as favourites to win the League. Football is indeed a fickle game.

I always said we would come strong going into the New Year but, unless we retain our form, the fall from grace can be as rapid as our revival.

After returning to action and scoring a few timely goals my hamstring has played up and I'm unlikely, bar a miracle, to face Aston Villa in the FA Cup today.

That is a great disappointment because I scored probably the best goal of my career at Villa Park in the season we last won the competition and went on to win an historic treble.

At least the injury won't keep me sidelined for long and I should be back in action as early as next week.

THE LIKELY LINE-UPS

VILLA

SCHMEICHEL

DELANEY

MELLBERG

STAUNTON

WRIGHT

STONE

HENDRIE

TAYLOR

KACHLOUL

VASSELL

ANGEL

MAN UTD

BARTHEZ

P NEVILLE

G NEVILLE

BLANC

SILVESTRE

VERON

KEANE

BUTT

SCHOLES

VAN N'ROOY

SOLSKJAER

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